With the world observing World Diabetes Day on November 14, another great concern regarding the association of TB and diabetes has come into focus. In world diabetes summit held in Indonesia, the severity of co-occurrence of TB and diabetes was discussed and several plan of action was adopted. In a recent summit held at Bali, Indonesia data from a bi-directional screening study on over 50,000 people for the two diseases in 10 districts from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand for a year (September 2014-15) was presented that showed, one in four people infected with TB was also positive for diabetes.
A total of 51,702 people were screened for TB and diabetes during the period. Among them, 1,448 (2.8%) people suffered from TB and 3,023 (5.9%) had diabetes. Among those with TB only, 539 (37%) patients had completed TB treatment, while only 507 (16.7%) diabetes patients were on treatment.…
